


Time Was Not Enough

by orphan_account



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Angst, Crying, F/F, Fluff, Meddling TARDIS, Post Resolutions, Post-Library River Song, Space Wives, Yaz's brilliant anecdotes, it will have a happy ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-18
Updated: 2019-11-24
Packaged: 2021-02-08 12:41:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21476182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: The Doctor and the fam answer a distress call, and get one hell of a surprise.
Relationships: The Doctor/River Song, Thirteenth Doctor/River Song
Comments: 23
Kudos: 327





	1. Someone Needs You

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, this is my first fic, so hello world! Still not sure where I want this to go, so leave comments with your opinions  
Leave kudos and enjoy!

The Doctor gazed around the TARDIS, the honeycomb structure still seeming new, the systems still being worn in. This was her favourite interior yet; but then again, each one always was. 

"So fam, where to next?" The Doctor lived for the light in their eyes when she said those words.

Ryan spoke first. "Can we go somewhere without a poisonous atmosphere this time? I'm still coughing up green gas after last time."

"Maybe somewhere with a little less running?" Graham still wasn't quite used to the physical side of adventure.

"But I still want somewhere with exitement," Yaz said, always determinedto have some fun on their trips.

"How about this: five galaxies away there's a crystalline cave on the second moon of Plomp that, every ten thousand years, is lit up with solar flares in blue and green."

Ryan exclaimed, "Oh my god, I can't believe that out of all the languages in the universe, someone had to name a planet Plomp!"

"Well, actually..." The Doctor looked slightly embarassed. 

This time Yaz was first. "Oh, it was you, Doctor, wasn't it! I can't believe that you actually named a planet Plomp, of all things!"

"Well, it wasn't my fault that an early civilisation can't read the name I inscribed on their holy temple! It took me months to carve, too." The Doctor said, cringing slightly at the memory

"Anyway, Plomp sounds good."

"Yeah, let's go and see it then!"

  
"Right, setting course for the second moon of Plomp!"  


The Doctor tapped some digits into the scanner, then gestured for Ryan to pull the lever. Her fam already looked so at home here, in one of the most unlikely places for them to ever be. They had fled together, fought together, even taken down a Dalek. If that didn't bring them close, nothing would.

Suddenly, the TARDIS jolted mid flight, honing in on some invisible trail like a bloodhound.

"Emergency positions, fam!" The Doctor cried out, her companions' safety a pressing concern. Ryan dived for a honeycombed pillar, Yaz leapt down the stairs and sheltered under the main body of the TARDIS, and the Doctor and Graham gripped tightly to the bars on the console. 

The TARDIS finally juddered to a welcome halt, a much heavier landing than normal.

"I'm guessing we're not on Plomp," said Graham, loosening his death grip on the console. 

The Doctor quickly examined the scanner, before starting, "No, we're on a ship. A ship very close to the Cortex Nebula. Too close for my liking. The TARDIS seems to have picked up some sort of distress call, but not on any wavelength I'm familiar with." She turned to the TARDIS with concern in her eyes. "What's wrong, old girl? If we hadn't just crashed, I'd say you were pleased with yourself." 

Ryan snorted, "I still don't hold with that TARDIS having emotions. I mean, I'm doing mechanics, and one of the first things we learn is that metal doesn't have feelings. Anyway, we going out or what?"

The Doctor spun towards the big, blue doors. "Yeah! The TARDIS brought us here for a reason, and I don't know about you, but I want to see what it is."

She led the fam out of the doors...and into a circle of guns. 

"Ugh, not guns, I hate guns, especially atomiser rifles like those you're holding!" How many times have I said guns in this sentence? I think I've said guns too many times."

The apparent leader of the group of black - clad soldiers looked slightly bemused, but nonetheless focused his atomiser on the Doctor. "Ma'am, I'm going to have to ask you to put your hands on your head and step away from the ship. It is now quarantined." 

Ryan turned to Yaz. "Did she say atomizer guns? She said atomizer didn't she."

"Shut up, Ryan!" Yaz hissed

The Doctor felt a rising sense of trepidation, nothing to do with the amount of guns levelled at her, wich was nothing new in any of her lives.

They appeared to be in some sort of chamber, probably near the center of the ship. Above them, a massive, transparent hull privies light and a glorious view of the nebula that was impossibly close. 

The Doctor spoke up, "We picked up a distress call from here. We came to help. Do you realise how close you are to plummeting into that nebula?" 

The leading soldier's face hardened. "Something attacked our orbit braces and left us free falling into the cluster. The sensors that were still working at the time showed someone teleporting in using a vortex manipulator within five minutes either side of the attack."

"A vortex manipulator? Cheap and nasty time travel. Not many people have one of those at this point in time," the Doctor answered

The clack of high heels suddenly echoed towards the group. The soldiers spun around, trying to level their rifles towards the origin of the sound.

"Actually, sweetie, I think you'll find I was answering the distress call, and fixing the damaged braces and sensors." 

Yaz noticed that as soon as the Doctor registered the voice, she stiffened. "Doctor, are you..."

The clicks stopped as an almost haloed figure stepped into the ring of pale yellow light. River Song levelled a plasma pistol at the soldiers and said, "Now what the hell do you think you're doing with my wife?"


	2. Old Wounds

Graham seemed the first to recover from the wave of surprise that swept through the group. "Wife, Doc? You're married?"

But the Doctor wasn't paying attention. She watched intently as River gently took one of her volumous curls and twisted it round her index finger, once, twice, three times, a message for someone who knew her enough to listen. She read the tension in River's body, saw the empty cartridge in the pistol's barrel, cleverly hidden from every soldier. She also noted the slight bulge on River's right shoulder. 

Praying to the stars that the soldiers were still distracted, she turned very slightly to her fam. "When I say now, dive," the Doctor whispered out of the corner of her mouth. She waited for a slight nod from everyone, before steeling herself and making eye contact with the wife that she thought was dead and locked away. 

River winked at her. 

"Now!" 

The fam floored it, whilst River ripped a glowing red hemisphere set in an opaque metal case from her shoulder compartment. She slammed her other hand onto it, then ducked herself, raising her flat palm above her head with the crystal on top of it. 

A blinding ruby wave of energy ripped through the air horizontally where River's head had been a quater of a second before. It caught each of the soldiers, and they faded away, until they had vanished completely. 

A shocked silence ensued, Ryan, Yaz and Graham flat out on the floor, The Doctor slowly rising from her crouch to glance slightly at River, who looked down at the now smoking device in her left hand. 

"Well, it looks like sending 20 people an hour into the future takes up enough energy to bust one of these. Cost a pretty penny from Doriam Maldovar as well." 

"Seriously, River? That's all you've got to say for yourself?" 

"Now, sweetie, let's not have an row in front of the humans; the last one caused a rather large explosion." 

The Doctor turned to her fam, the only people her present body had ever trusted. "Would you guys mind going back into the TARDIS?" 

They all quickly obeyed, having never heard the Doctor sound so angry and so hurt simultaneously before. Graham stopped for a second, resting his arm gently on the Doctor's arm, a quick reassuring glance before heading into the TARDIS and shutting the door. 

River came closer to the Doctor, hand held aloft as if to caress her wife's cheek, until her fingertips were just ghosting across the Doctor's fresh, new skin. This was the first time she had seen this new regeneration. She looked so beautiful... 

The Doctor veered away, so slightly, just enough for River to see her discomfort. 

River knew this was her Doctor - even her soul was crying out her love - she just had to work out how to show it to this beautiful fresh incarnation without spooking her. 

The Doctor sighed deeply, suddenly looking her many years. Her wife could see the weariness and grief in her face, the many centuries of loss and regret. 

"I think you'd better come inside."


	3. Memories Can Hurt The Most

The TARDIS doors clicked shut, the ambiant yellow light reflecting off of five apprehensive faces. Ryan fidgeted, uncomfortable, and leaned against a crystalline pillar, occasionally glancing up towards a Doctor who was standing in the doorway with River, but pointedly staring at the TARDIS console.

"Well, this isn't awkward at all," said Graham, seriously. The corner of River's mouth turned up in a slight smirk. The Doctor cleared her throat just audibly, her delicate, still new features scrunching slightly, before she looked up for the first time since re-entering the TARDIS. 

"River, this is Yaz, Ryan and Graham. Fam, this is River. River Song. My wife." 

The named woman arched a perfect eyebrow. "Since when have you called your companion's 'fam'?" 

"Decades, you left me, River; decades that I thought you were dead! I thought I would never see you again! I think that there may be more than one thing that has changed!" 

The humans in the console rooms tactfully decided to keep the shocked silence steadily growing from the doorway. 

River Song took a second to visibly compose herself, before glancing guiltily at the Doctor and speaking again. "Sweetie, I think I'll retire to our room. I need to rest; I have had a very long day." She moved over to the stairs and began to descend. "And after that, we need to talk." 

It was the Time Lord's turn to raise an eyebrow. "About your alarmingly reducing communication skills which leave others in a pit of near inescapable grief?" 

"No, sweetie," River said, her head poking just above the floor level and gesticulating towards the Doctor. "We need to talk about those braces!" 

********************************************************* 

Heels clicked on the metal floors of the TARDIS for the first time in years, the complex machinery humming with something like a final contentment, as River Song made her way to the TARDIS master suite. She opened the wooden doors, then gazed around the room with pleasant surprise; she liked the new dècor. 

River suddenly gasped. Past the large poster bed with velvet hangings, on the far side if the room, there was a bedside cabinet. River slowly moved towards the cabinet, looking in wonder at what was on top; a TARDIS-blue notebook, seams nearly bursting with a familiar, flowing scrawl, and in top of that, a rusted, electric blue sonic screwdriver. 

"Oh," River breathed, picking up the screwdriver and examining it. "Oh, sweetie, you went back for them." A tear slipped silently down her cheek, as a sudden creak at the doorway made her whip round. 

Yaz stood behind her, looking concerned. "Are...you alright?" 

"Yes, I'm...fine. You just don't expect a sunset to admire you back." 

"The Doctor said that you'd died. If you dont mind me asking, how long ago was that, for you?" 

River sighed. "Seven years ago. The seven longest years of my very long life" 

"Seven years when you could have contacted the Doctor?" Yaz 's face hardened very slightly as she spoke. 

A sad smile ghosted across River's lips, and her eyes reflected her regret of all the pain she had caused the person she loved the most. "I can see why she likes you. You ask the right sort of questions. The only reason that I didn't try to find the Doctor before was because I was afraid. I was afraid that the man I loved so much would forget me. You've seen her life, you've lived it; can you honestly tell me that you never forget your family, your friends? The life of the Doctor is a life of solidarity. She always moves on." River turned her body away from Yaz, as if to attempt to hide the great remorse filling her soul. "And now I finally come back to find that I have done so much more damage than I could ever hope to repair." 

Yaz placed a reassuring hand on the other woman's shoulder. "I had a friend, at uni. Lila, she was called, Lila Evans. And she'd been dating this guy for months. They really loved each other, but suddenly, though, her dad lost his job, and couldn't keep paying her tuition. She had to drop out. She didn't tell any of us, she just moved out of her apartment one day, no warning. Her boyfriend was devastated. He lashed out at all of us, he wouldn't talk to us and when Lila finally tried to meet up with him and explain, he pushed her away. But she kept trying, and eventually, he agreed to see her. They got married three years ago." 

Yaz smiled gently at River. "You fix relationship by talking, not by giving up." 

River laughed quietly, her wild curls bouncing slightly. "Did you ever consider being a therapist? You'd be a good fit." 

"Nah, too boring!" 

A true smile lit River's features, and she spoke happily enough. "Again, I can see why the Doctor likes you!" 

Yaz grinned as well, before saying: "I'll leave you to rest." She turned and walked to the door, pulling it closed behind her. River Song collapsed onto the bed, her fully fledged emotions racking her body and leaving her exhausted. She slept soundly, with dreams of her eventful past.


	4. Before It's Too Late

The Doctor stood in the main console room, her arms folded, impatiently tapping her heel against the crystalline pillars snaking up towards the ceiling. Graham seemed worried about her, and needed to break the stifling tension permeating the room.

"Look here, Doc, this woman, this River Song, you love her, don't you?" 

The Time Lord's head tilted upwards, towards him, and her arms loosened and swung to her sides. "...Yes, Graham, I do." 

"Then, if you thought she was dead, and she isn't, surely that's a good thing? If she was my Grace, I wouldn't let her out of my sight again." 

Ryan snorted. "Nah, man, if Nan were alive she'd never let you out of her sight." 

The Doctor was saved from answering by Yaz clattering up the stairs, and dashed over to her. 

"Is River alright? Is she hungry? Thirsty? Is she too hot? Too cold? Can she remember where everything is? Does she need a pen and paper? I'll go and see if she wants a pen and paper." 

Yaz had to grab her arm to stop the distressed Time Lord from barging past her down the corridor. "Why would she want stationary, Doctor? She's fine, she's sleeping." She smirked. "And if you ask me, she clearly shouldn't be worried about whether you will forgive her or not." 

"She was worried...about me forgiving her?" 

"Yeah. It seemed to be all she could think about. She was pretty preoccupied." 

The Doctor moved back to the console, leaning on it with her arms spread. Her voice when she spoke next resonated with remorse. "Guys, have I messed up?" 

It was Graham who replied, keen to reassure her. "No Doc, not yet, but you need to make things right before you do." 

"Yeah. I do." 

********************************************************* 

River Song lay sleeping on her bed, still fully clothed, as the Doctor stood in the doorway. Her familiar blue jacket and white blouse were perhaps a little too tight, and the Doctor couldn't help staring slightly. River stirred and rolled over to face the Doctor, her expression blissful and drowsy. 

She mumbled slightly, still half asleep. "Stay with me, Doctor?" 

The Doctor raised her eyebrows, shocked, but River corrected her. "Not like that, just...stay in here." 

The Time Lord paused, unsure, but then smiled warmly. "...Okay, River." 

She made her way to the armchair in the corner of the large room, facing the bed. River sank back into the pillows, and slept on.


	5. The People You Love

When River Song dragged her mind out of slumber, the Doctor was still sat in the plush armchair, fast asleep herself. River pushed herself up onto her elbows in order to get a better view of the gorgeous woman in front of her. "Sweetie? Time to get up."

The Doctor groaned slightly, a lock of short, blond hair cascading over her angular features. 

"Sweetie, your friends will be wondering where you are." 

The Doctor's head lolled forward, before slowly rising. "Nah...parked TARDIS...in Sheffield. They're...home." 

She rose up and stretched, stiff from clothes she should never have slept in. "Do you want breakfast?" River smiled, surprised. "You can cook?" 

The buoyancy in the Doctor's face dropped as she frowned slightly at the floor, remembering her heated feelings from yesterday. River quickly sat up, and spoke softly but firmly. "Forget I said that. We are going to make this work." 

The Doctor grinned, unable to stay upset at that moment. "Are pancakes ok?" 

"Pancakes sound great." 

*********************************************************

River left the bedroom, in fresh clothes that the TARDIS had thoughtfully provided, and made her way to the main kitchen. A four inch stack of pancakes stood on the table dripping in butter and maple syrup as she poked her head round the door. 

"Hello River!", the Doctor said, smiling. God, River had missed her Doctor looking at her like that. "I wasn't sure how hungry you would be, so I just made loads." 

"Actually, I'm ravenous, sweetie, thank you." They sat opposite each other on the small table on the opposite side of the room, and began to eat their way through the large plate of breakfast. 

River decided to broach the subject that would be difficult, but she knew needed tackling. "So, what have you been doing since...Darillium?" The Doctor smiled gently, as if thanking her for making an effort. 

"A lot of things, really, it's been a long time for me. I became a lecturer, and met a lovely girl called Bill. Well, rather she followed me until she'd seen too much, but its the same thing really. She ended up becoming a cyberman, but still fully conscious, which must have been terrible, but she was released by the Pilot after dragging me through the battlefield. I regenerated then, fell through a train roof in Sheffield, with no TARDIS and no screwdriver, and met the fam. I've been with then a while now, they're cool. I mean, they payed for my clothes!" 

"Yes, sweetie, we need to talk about those clothes. You never really had much fashion sense, did you? Apart from maybe after 24 years of good influence." 

"Clothes aside, how about you? Yaz said it was 7 years since the Library for you, so what have you been doing? And while we are on the subject, how exactly are you alive?" 

River smiled slightly. "Oh sweetie, you'll know when you have a good idea, because I'll do it too." 

"You mean..." 

"Yes, the Teselecta owed me a favour after Berlin, now knowing as well as you do that I never killed you. As it turned out, all those people were transferred easily, I couldn't have planned it better. After that, I couldn't bring myself to see you now, so I travelled. I saw the Helical display at Duconda (I know you've always wanted to see that), I did a marvelous study on Weeping Angels, then I got bored, so I stole the Crowning Diamonds of the Dreskovi lineage. 

The Doctor grinned at the woman she had loved so much, and, she realised suddenly, still did. "Thief." 

"Archeoligist." 

"Same thing. I can't believe you risked the lives of everyone in the Teselecta just to see me again. I completely disapprove." 

River smiled mischievously. "It was a skeleton crew, and you said that you had another 11 faces that I was never going to miss. Anyway, you don't disapprove." 

"Youe right, I lied. I completely approve." The Doctor found it surprisingly easy to slip into her old role, and she spoke lightly, and with a sense of wholeness that she hadn't realised she'd missed. "So what do you think of the new body?"

River smirked as she remembered. "I'll let you know. I've only seen the face." The Doctor smiled as well at the memory. "I love it. It's gorgeous. You're gorgeous." 

They both stood up, abandoning the table and empty plate. They stood close together, almost exactly the same height. 

River smiled. "Hello, sweetie." 

The Doctor cupped her wife's face in her slender hands, and said "Welcome back, River." Their lips connected in an emotional explosion to rival any supernova. 

River passionately returned the kiss, her fim lips pressing hard against the Doctor's soft, fresh ones. She sighed into her wife's mouth, and felt the Doctor's returning smile. 

They eventually broke apart, both women breathless and blissful. River was the first to break the peaceful silence. 

"You're an exeptional kisser, now." 

At this, the Doctor smirked. "Have you been keeping track?" 

River hugged the Doctor. "I've missed you." 

"I've missed you too." 

River finally pulled away, smiling. "I think we'd better go pick up your friends." 

"Yeah, so do I." 

They walked back to the blue double doors, hands entwined between them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that's that then. My first fic, complete. It's certainly been weird seeing my work liked for once. I promise to keep writing, so keep an eye on my profile and I'll see you soon!


End file.
